Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes: Mores

We’re considering Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible, by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien — an excellent book.

Okay. “Mores” makes me think of s’mores.

But the authors actually mean “mores” as in ˈmȯr-ˌāz. (Rhymes with malaise. Just the last syllable, though. But really.)

It’s a fancy word (from the Latin) meaning “fixed morally binding customs of a particular group.”

Southern U.S. mores (there really should be an accent or something on the last syllable, don’t you think?) compel us not to speak ill of the dead. Which is odd, because the dead are much less likely to be offended than the living, but that’s the rule. (If you wish to slander me, I’d really rather you wait until I’m dead, although no slander at all would be even better.)

The authors discuss mores in three categories: sex, money, and food (not power, food).

Sex

In the West, we tend to privilege marriage. Churches often focus on family ministry, to the extent that single Christians often feel completely ignored by the church. But, of course, something like 30% of adult Americans are single. It’s a blunder caused by our still living in a 1950s world when people married at 18 and divorce was unthinkable.

You see, our church mores are often severely out of touch with the mores of the surrounding culture. It’s a common problem, and often leads to the church being ineffective as it seeks to impose cultural norms that are not biblical norms.

You see, in the Eastern world, singleness is often revered. It varies, a lot, from place to place and time to time, but marriage is often seen quite differently in the East. For example, many Easterners consider an arranged marriage preferable to letting the couple pick their own mates. After all, why should such an important decision be left to ones so young and inexperienced?

Think about it. Think about all the marriages made where the parents objected. Most of the time, the marriage was destined for failure — but the couple didn’t see it because they didn’t have the experience of their parents. (I’ve seen it happen the other way, too, but most of the time, the parents are right.)

Just so, in many Eastern societies, celibacy and singleness are honored. Celibacy is a part of some Eastern religions — not just Catholicism. Marriage isn’t always seen as essential to self-fulfillment and pleasing God.

But the modern American church rarely teaches the lessons of 1 Corinthians 7, where Paul praises the advantages of singleness for a Christian. Rather, most church singles ministries are match-making services. We are blind to what is so plainly taught because we can’t imagine giving up the joys of marriage and children for the sake of the Kingdom — although nearly all the apostles did just exactly that.

Imagine a modern missionary organization sending young men and women to Islamic nations, urging them to remain single so they can fearlessly risk their lives for Jesus. It would be very much like the First Century church — and not at all like the modern American church. We’d be scandalized. We’d go looking for proof texts to prove them sinful.

Money

In the West, money is considered infinite. We don’t “take” money from others; we “make” money. And every year, there’s more and more money. Therefore, becoming rich is a matter of industry, frugality, and discipline. Work hard, save, invest, and you’ll be rich (or well off, at least) — and should be honored for it. And, in fact, in the West, money really can be created out of hard work.

But there are cultures where money doesn’t grow so easily. In a poor land, where the only real wealth is land, you can’t become rich without taking someone else’s land. If you have to work every waking hour just to make enough to survive, saving and accumulating wealth is an absurdity.

Thus, we see such passages as —

(Psa 52:7 NIV) Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!”

I would add —

(Eze 34:18-22 ESV)  ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?  ¹⁹ And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?  ²⁰ “Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.  ²¹ Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, ²² I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep.

It’s not that the Easterners are socialists or communists or economically ignorant. Many live in a world very far removed from capitalism, a world where wealth is typically achieved by taking from the poor because there’s just not enough wealth to go around.

Of course, in the West, while it’s possible to become wealthy without hurting the poor — even while helping the poor — it’s also possible to become wealthy by taking from the poor. Those passages aren’t nearly as foreign to the Western experience as we’d like to think.

Consider the recent efforts by the Archbishop of Canterbury to rein in the payday loan business —

Speaking in a parliamentary debate on the high-cost loan companies, some charging customers more than 4,000%, the Archbishop said the Government should introduce a cap on the rates the firms can charge.

He also dismissed Government claims that a cap would restrict competition and force people to turn to loan sharks.

‘The payday lending industry has grown at a vast speed’ he said, and was now ‘a situation too big to ignore’.

The debate follows a Bureau investigation that revealed the huge growth in the industry. The research showed that the 12 biggest high-cost lending companies made almost £1bn in revenues in the last year, with some tripling their turnover.

We have a housekeeper. When my wife writes her a check, our bank charges $5.00 to cash the check, even though it’s our check written against that same bank against good funds. They don’t charge businesses to cash their checks, but they charge the working poor to cash their checks.

Check cashing and payday loan businesses appear literally two to the block in some parts of town. There is no way the business is that lucrative unless they are taking advantage of ignorance and poverty.

And the church has been silent — because most church members live in a world in which money is made honestly, by actually earning it, even creating new wealth for society. Therefore, we are blind to the countless biblical passages that warn against taking advantage of the poor.

(Isa 3:13-15 ESV) ¹³ The LORD has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples.  ¹⁴ The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.  ¹⁵ What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

(Isa 10:1-4 ESV) Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression,  ² to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!  ³ What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?  ⁴ Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

When was the last time you heard on sermon on passages such as these?

Food

What is considered a delicacy in one land might be considered disgusting in another. There’s an urban legend here in Tuscaloosa that a local Chinese restaurant was closed by the health department when the inspectors found dog meat in their freezer. The owners insisted that the meat was for personal consumption only. It didn’t matter.

I don’t know whether the story is true. I just know that my favorite Chinese restaurant closed suddenly despite doing a robust business.

The Jews were taught not to eat pork, because pork was “unclean” under the Torah. The Muslims follow the same rule today.

The authors point out that some who consider pork unclean are literally sickened at the thought of eating pork. We can’t imagine that — especially here in the South where pork barbecue is a cultural icon. We think of “unclean” as merely a rule the Jews had to honor, but to them, it was not only ethnic identity, eating pork would be like a Southerner eating a dog. Better yet, it would be like a Southerner eating a cockroach. Not just wrong, but disgusting.

The Jews would have been disgusted at the eating habits of their Gentile neighbors, and yet Paul insisted that the Jews and Gentiles not only meet together in the same congregation, they were expected to eat together.

And in the East, eating together is not just a fun time. It’s a grant of hospitality, acceptance, and the host’s protection. In Afghanistan, the Taliban will often approach a family and ask for food. The social customs are such that they have to agree — even if they hate the Taliban. And having broken bread together, the Taliban enjoy the protection of the family’s patriarch. The society’s mores are just that strong — and millennia old.

We Westerners would deal with the discomfort of meeting with Christians from a very different culture, who look and act differently, and who eat repugnant foods — by splitting into two different congregations. We’d say something like, “You’d feel more comfortable at that other church.” And we’d be right — but we’d be very wrong.

One of the pervasive themes of Acts and the Epistles is the effort made by Paul and the other leaders of the early church to bring Jews and Gentiles together as a single body, joined together by Jesus despite their obvious and very difficult differences. Indeed, they saw the unity of the church across ethnic, racial, and social barriers as testifying to the power of the gospel — a power we obviously have little faith in.